Billy Donovan says blame the guy who put this team together
the Bulls head coach wants you to know it's not his fault
Being an irrelevant franchise means you are guaranteed a long break during the NBA Cup1, and this year it is coming at a good time with the team in freefall:
It also gives a rare opportunity to practice, or at least go to the practice facility and run around a bit. Plus an opportunity (they would say burden) to speak to the media. No, not anything from the architect of this dilapidation, though when the Continuity Crew had a 5-14 stretch to begin the 2023-24 season he spoke2. But Billy Donovan, unlike Arturas Karnisovas loves talking basketball and chewing gum, and while he’s not out of gum he’s not out of thoughts to express either.
A couple weeks (and many losses) after first saying it, Billy Donovan reiterated: he coaches one of the worst rosters in the league:
“People want to sit there and say, ‘Well, you lost to New Orleans. They’ve got a bad record. Indiana, bad record. I don’t think we’re any different than those teams. We got to play really, really well to win every single night. We’re not just gifted to walk in there (and) if we show up, we’re going to win games.”
…
“I’m not looking at film saying, ‘Oh, Kevin Huerter’s out, Zach Collins is out. Boy, if HE was here, this would be different.’ I don’t believe that. Some of it’s, like, inbounding the basketball. What do these guys being out have to do with that? What is five guys running back in transition, talking and communicating, have to do with anybody being out?”
Donovan does this often, including last year. He knows that the front office has proven to be unable to acquire top-end talent, and so has to go with this ‘identity’ requiring 9-10 players who try really hard. But that playing style also requires talent, and makes for a slim margin of error3, and that’s how these injuries are a valid excuse for the coach.
I anticipate when these replacement-level guys come back in the rotation that all of a sudden it will look like a better effort. Especially if Donovan tightens things up: Williams4, Terry, Phillips, 2-way guys all should be DNPs. The offense-first guys who may be trying but we can’t tell given their physical limitations, Vucevic and Giddey, keep a shorter leash.
This may stop the bleeding, but it surely is not, like, good for the organization. That is unless these actions, explained by Donovan’s words, actually get to an audience who is not delusional. Karnisovas is obviously not self-aware enough to realize his underling is trashing him, since at any and every opportunity AK says “we love Billy”. It has to get to the guy who can fire the front office.
That may blow back on Donovan as well, but hearing him lately has me believing he wouldn’t be too upset about it.
and a schedule boost, though given how they’ve performed lately there are no easy wins
IF Karnisovas addresses this current 4-14 slide, it’ll be on Friday afternoon in Charlotte to ensure minimal coverage
Why was Lonzo Ball so important is a similar rhetorical question facing Arturas Karnisovas.
The counterfactual to ‘Billy knows ball’ is Pat, who gets minutes even though he can’t move. I suppose it just means Billy values ‘knowing where to be’ versus actually being able to get there.
“Williams, Terry, Phillips, 2-way guys all should be DNPs.”
Probably not great that list includes basically 75% of AK’s draft picks from his first four years, huh?
Marc Stein today says Bulls still interested in Kuminga.
seems like an AK type move - a 'young player with experience' that a team with contending aspirations doesn't want to play. He received a DNP against the Bulls.
I don't know (genuinely), is he even that interesting of a player? He is actually an athlete, but does he play with 'physicality' or does he have Kobe-brain on offense. Can he defend small forwards?
I'd do it for Vuc (Kuminga has a team option so precious flexibility is preserved), and perhaps Warriors get even worse offers than they did in the offseason. But AK 'interest' means he'll likely keep upping the offer and send picks.